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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial variability of glaciers and how
topography affects disparate glacier response to climate change in the Canadian
Cordillera. This research identifies topographic variables which may have affected
glacier response to climate during and after the Little Ice Age (LIA). Changes in glacier
area, shape, length, elevation, height, aspect, hypsometry, slope and upslope area were
measured for sixteen glaciers from orthophotos and digital surface models (DSM).
DSMs were created to represent glacier surface elevation in 2005. LIA glacier surfaces
were reconstructed by interpolating the elevation along the former margin. Multivariate
statistics were used to determine which topographic variables explained variance in
glacier geometry. Glacier sensitivity scores based on the topographic characters of each
glacier were developed and calculated. Glacier cover in the study area has decreased by
49.4 % with an estimated volume loss of 1.97 ± 0.2 km³.